(Alpine, TX) – Big Bend Regional Medical Center today was named as one of the nation’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of U.S. health care organizations. Big Bend Regional was recognized for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions. These conditions include heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, children’s asthma, stroke and venous thrombo embolism, as well as inpatient psychiatric services.

Big Bend Regional is one of 1,099 hospitals earning the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® for attaining and sustaining excellence in the following measure set: Pneumonia. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2012 calendar year.

This is the second time that Big Bend Regional is being recognized as a Top Performer. Previously, Big Bend Regional was recognized by The Joint Commission for its achievement on the following measure sets Pneumonia and Surgical Care.

“Big Bend Regional’s first priority is providing patients with high quality, safe and effective care through proven practices that improve outcomes and the patient experience. We are proud to be named to The Joint Commission’s list of Top Performers. The credit goes to our medical staff, employees and volunteers whose hard work every day makes this possible,” said Mike Ellis, CEO, Big Bend Regional Medical Center.

“The clinicians at Big Bend Regional are dedicated to treating patients with established protocols to give them the best possible outcomes,” said Dr. Catherine Harrington, chief of staff, Big Bend Regional Medical Center. “It’s an honor to have the standard of care we provide here recognized on a national level.”

Each of the hospitals named Top Performers met three 95 percent performance thresholds. First, the hospital achieved cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures. Second, recognized hospitals reached performance of 95 percent or above on every reported accountability measure where there are at least 30 denominator cases. Third, hospitals must have at least one core measure set that has a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and within that measure set all applicable individual accountability measures have a performance rate of 95 or above.

A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice – for example, giving aspirin at arrival for heart attack patients, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery, and providing a home management plan for children with asthma.
“Big Bend Regional Medical Center and all the Top Performer hospitals have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to quality improvement and they should be proud of their achievement,” says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president and chief executive officer, The Joint Commission. “We have much to celebrate this year. Nearly half of our accredited hospitals have attained or nearly attained the Top Performer distinction. This truly shows that we are approaching a tipping point in hospital quality performance that will directly contribute to better health outcomes for patients.”